This year marks the inaugural season for the U.S. Soccer Girls’ Development Academy program, and this week’s Academy Spring Showcase represents the first Academy event exclusively for girls. Just outside of Greensboro, N.C., the Bryan Soccer Complex will play host to the U-14, U-15 and U-16/17 age groups from every Girls’ Academy clubs and our GU14, GU15 and GU16/17 teams have made the journey to participate in the prestigious showcase event.
Friday, April 6, 2018
Our GU14 Academy team played their first game yesterday against a very tough, physical Fury FC team from Long Island, New York.
Despite our girls being two goals Fury FC managed to claw a couple back to tie the game up. During the last 15 mins LAGSD pushed hard for the winner but the Fury FC keeper pulled off some great saves to keep the game at loggerheads.
Saturday, April 7, 2018
It was a great first day performance for our U15 Academy girls in rainy North Carolina against a strong Cincinnati Academy team.
The first half was a tight affair and it took until the 51st minute for LAGSD to score what would be the game winning goal. Evva Vail played a superb through ball for Emily Colton, who pushed past two players to calmly slot home her 24th goal of the season, which keeps her in line as one of the top scorers in the DA 03 division.
LAGSD Academy Director, Michael Duggan, commented, “I’m very proud of how the girls played today in challenging conditions. The team played great defense and not conceding a goal will give them confidence for the next game.”
Our GU15 Academy team were fortunate enough to be in one of the select games chosen to be live streamed at the Spring Showcase. Check out their game against Cincinnati Development Academy in the video below.
Later in the day it was the turn of our GU16/17 Academy team to play their first showcase game and they didn’t disappoint with a fantastic 4-0 victory against Weston FC from Florida. Goals from Ashley Harris and Laura Jones sealed the win in very tough field conditions.
“It was an absolute team performance,” said Coach Courtney Drummond. “The girls worked incredibly hard and never stopped. It was a very gritty and impressive performance.”
Sunday, April 8, 2018
There was a chill in the air this morning for the 10am game between our U14 Academy girls and FC Virginia. It was a very close game until the 60th minute when Ellie Davidson scored a wonder goal, climbing over the FC Virginia defenders to head the ball in from a deep cross.
“It got everyone off their feet, on both team sidelines,” said Coach Michael Duggan. “You don’t see many goals like that at this level. Definitely a contender for goal of the week.”
Our girls went on to grab another goal with the clock ticking down and thus secure a 2-0 victory.
Our GU16/17 Academy team played in the game of the day. After going down to 10 players and then going 1-0 down to a very strong Sporting Valley FC, our girls showed great ‘never say die’ mentality and tied 1-1 with a goal from Maddie Lauro. Even more to our girls credit, they were the dominating team for final moments and really should have won.
Monday, April 9, 2018
Our 2004 Academy girls played national champions FC Dallas today in what was their last and toughest game of the showcase. Goals from Casey DeHaan and Ellie Davidson earned our LAGSD girls a 2-2 tie and left them heading home unbeaten.
“It was a fantastic showing for our girls and a truly great experience,” said Coach Michael Duggan. “Today’s 2-2 tie was the toughest challenge of our three games and I was very proud of the character our girls displayed out there. We are heading back to sunny Carlsbad very satisfied with our showing.”
Also in action today, our 2003 Academy girls followed up their Saturday win with a convincingly display against Oakwood today in North Carolina. Vanessa Cruz scored two goals from corners, one in the first half and one in the second.
Coach Carl Higham commented, “Keeping another clean sheet today gives us confidence going into our final game on Tuesday against a top Eclipse team. I’m really proud of how the players are performing in front of National team scouts and college coaches from across the country. Pressure to perform is definitely a factor and they are handling it well!”
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Our 03s played in an epic 3-3 tie this morning against top ranked Eclipse of Illinois. Our ladies took the lead every time with goals from Emily Colton (1) and Evva Vail (2) only to be cancelled out by a determined Eclipse team who featured 3 youth national team players in their starting line up.
Our GU16/17 team also played their final showcase game but it was unfortunately a 4-1 loss to a very strong Boston Breakers.
“Overall, this was a massive week for our Academy program and club,” said GU14 Academy Coach and Director, Michael Duggan. With nine games played by our three participating teams, we came away with four ties, four wins and just one loss. I am so proud of our players, families and staff. The feedback from the observing U.S. National staff has been very positive.”
GU16/17 Academy Coach and LAGSD Girls College Liaison, Courtney Drummond, added, “The college exposure was fantastic. Our sidelines were filled with coaches and U.S Soccer did a great job putting on an event where every game was competitive. To have multiple U.S Soccer scouts, national team coaches and college coaches watching every game is pretty special and something our girls won’t forget.”
“It was the 1st showcase for our GU14s and they were absolutely superb,” said GU15 Academy Coach and LAGSD Director of Girls, Carl Higham. “It isn’t easy spending this amount of time away from home for these young girls but they handled it very maturely and having the 03s and 01s to look up to was a big help. They all look out for each other both on and off the field. Well done girls.”
